Fletch wrote:it would be nice to see it given the Criterion treatment and they could throw in L.A. Takedown on one of the discs.

For those interested, Nicheflix offers a R2 version of L.A. Takedown. I watched it this week as prep for the SE, and it's a fascinating companion piece. It plays like a run-through for Heat, encompassing ~60% of the later film. It has some different scenes and different dialogue, but the most interesting aspect for me was the preponderance of similar scenes with the same (or slightly altered) dialogue as in Heat. The diner scene, for example, is mesmerizing to watch, if only to remind you of how much more depth and character DeNiro and Pacino invest in the same lines. Alex McArthur (as McLaren) mostly purses his lips and stares, and Scott Plank (as Vincent) looks like Ben Affleck with less acting chops (Pacino even improves his shouting); the Tom Sizemore and Val Kilmer characters are mostly sketches here, but Waingro (played by the awesomely named Xander Berkeley) is similarly wild-eyed. The directing and action also plays out like a rehearsal, with Mann using a lot of hand-held camera; watching Heat after L.A. Takedown feels like luxuriating in Olivier's Henry V after sitting through a college production. But I was completely transfixed, and I recommend it to fans of Mann and Heat, or just to see how a director develops his material over time. It's interesting to speculate how Mann re-thought some of the scenes, changing pace, fleshing out ideas, while also leaving the ones that play nicely (such as the Waingro kiss-off at the diner) alone. The Nick James BFI monograph on Heat also covers some of the script development between the films.

Godot wrote:For those interested, Nicheflix offers a R2 version of L.A. Takedown. I watched it this week as prep for the SE, and it's a fascinating companion piece. It plays like a run-through for Heat, encompassing ~60% of the later film. It has some different scenes and different dialogue, but the most interesting aspect for me was the preponderance of similar scenes with the same (or slightly altered) dialogue as in Heat.

I wonder why L.A. Takedown has never seen the light of day on video here in North America? I know Mann does see it as a rough draft so maybe he's embarrassed by it? It might also explain why The Keep has not been released on DVD yet (at least Region 1). Last year it was reported that Paramount was going to finally release it and then nothing.

It could just be that Mann realizes how bad it is. The acting is wooden, the movie is cheesy, and it looks like they made it for $32.50. Interesting, maybe, for Mann completists, but the movie really is no good and perhaps he wishes it would just go away.

Xander Berkeley was also the father who adopted John Connor in Terminator 2. Strangely enough (this is how much of a film geek I am), the man who plays the biker in the beginning of the movie that fights with Arnold also plays the Nate (played by Jon Voight in Heat) character in L.A. Takedown.

...the back of the packaging for Warner Home Video's Heat Blu-ray (due 11/3) reveals that the 2-disc set will include "new content changes supervised by director Michael Mann" which amounts to about 2 minutes of trims.

A close comrade just saw this theatrically at the New Beverly. He said the trims on the DVD/Blu-Ray are just little bits of inconsequential dialogue in scenes. Nothing more than Mann tightening it up it seems.

I don't know all of the minor changes, but one I do know is the scene where Al Pacino and his crew first meet Hank Azaria (the "she's got a great ass!" rant). Originally, after his rant, Al Pacino says "Ferocious, aren't I?". That line is no longer in the film on the blu-ray.

This just went up on Amazon.fr. Looks like in addition to the supplements from the previous special edition, it will include both the full Q&A's done (with the Academy this past September with Christopher Nolan moderating, and one from last year's TIFF).